Learn BASIC or PASCAL first!!! I learnt BASIC first, and then I went on to VB, HTML, and then C++. The book I got was called "The complete idiots guide to C++" and it was one of the best books I ever read. It covered the core aspects of the language, and OO concepts.
For the original poster of this thread, I would suggest you read a book\take a course of programming in general. This is the most thorough way to learn. Then do a bit of BASIC, and then get a dummie book for C++. You don''t want C. C is dead. You don''t want C#. C# is evil. Expect to take around 1 year at least ot learn the basics of programming in C++.
I first made crappy text-adventure games in BASIC, and then a few years later I learnt C++. Alot of C++ concepts were hard for me to grasp, some are still hard for me, but I reckon the extra BASIC stuff i did really helped. BASIC has functions, while loops, if conditions, for loops, and by the time you learn C++, this will seem familiar. It won''t take you long to get the hang of C++ if you know what a programming language entails.
I would recommend you use Windows and DirectX for games, as these are clear winners in the popularity contest. Linux may be great, but an overwhelming people have Win9x.
And I''m not finished yet. To all the people who say "C++ is so crap" or "C is way better" or "C++ is hard to read", etc, they are a little confused. If you can''t hack classes then you should realise that C made them. The inventor of C++ originally introduced classes as a data type for C added on, called C With Classes. C++ is a big improvement.
And anyone who says "no-one needs pointers or hard stuff like that" then tell ''em they''re dreaming!
Shutup! No! I won''t shut up! Damn you people I thought we''d all agree on this! its plainly obvious!! I conclude my argument with these contraversial statements:
-C++ is the best games language ever :p
-C is dead. It has been outdated by C++ :0
-Learn how to programme in something easier than C\C++ before C\C++ :p
-Anyone who says C++ is more unreadable than C is clearly an idiot :p
-Anyone who says BASIC sucks doesn''t realise its importance and should know it came out a long time before C so of course C will be more powerful
-Anyone who sends messages purely to become a higher "ranking" is wasting there time *cough*cough* chris *cough cough cough* haven''t you got a company to run :p
